Christmas Shopping

One yr i got cash for my x-mas gift from my dad when i was a kid. he put an envelope on the tree w/ some cash in it and then it had a note as to where to find the other envelope w/ money. he had a few hidden around the room. kind of made it fun.

When I was in college, my parents got a little fake Christmas tree and rolled up different bills with ribbons and hung it on the tree. It was so fun! I still remember it fondly as one of my favorite Christmas presents ever. Just an idea for you!

When I give cash to my daughter, and when my mom gives me cash, it's always wrapped up with another small gift. She stuck a $20 bill in with a new razor. She stuck $10 in with a pair of gloves. She stuck another $20 in with some new socks. I love opening gifts - I think most people do, especially kids, so if you go the route of giving him some cash, do it by wrapping bills separately as individual gifts or included in little gifts that you end up buying him.

You could buy him a nice Bible if he doesn't already have one and put the money inside like a book mark!

Once when my bubby was little, his dad wrapped up a box of Pringles as a gift for his brother. When he opened the gift and found it was pringles, he set it aside (even though Pringles was a love of his), not realizing there was more to the gift... there was a $20 bill hiding under the plastic lid!

there is a story in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book about the money in the Bible -- I think it was a title tucked in the Bible though... the son didn't open the bible til his Dad (the gift giver) died. Then he found that the car he asked for for Christmas was actually his... he just had to read the Bible... like his Dad wanted him to do.

hi, you could take him shopping before christmas. that way he dosnt feel left out when his brothers are opening stuff on christmas.

I agree with Maureen here. The other thing I think about is that if you give him cash he knows exactly how much you spent on him. Is this going to make you spend more on him just to make sure he feels "valued"? I agree with those who said to ask him what he would have spent it on. What if you could get him something he loves on sale, and save some money? Call me old fashioned and a cheapskate, but that's what I think. But I guess you already said you have no problem doing this, so I'm not answering your question--sorry! :) I know for me growing up half the fun of Christmas was the anticipation, so having no surprise would have dampened Christmas a bit for me. It's never quite as fun when you know what's inside whatever you're opening up.

neat idea about putting the cash in different boxes.
I always thought it was fun to find cash in a present. I know I'm a girl so I'd find it in a purse or something, but for a boy maybe in a book or a toy that he wants.

That sounds like a great idea! I don't allow my kids to get just cash from us or immediate family, but on my daughter's dad's side, they send her checks. They don't know her at all. So this works out well.

i don't think cash would be bad, but i'd still give him few presents..i am 38 years old, and i still like getting presents..christmas was always my favorite time of year, and i feel like a little kid when i see presents with my name on them..even if its just some clothes you know he'd really like, i'd put a couple under the tree..good luck

What about you wrapping "hints" on where the money is and send him on a little scavenger hunt Christmas morning. That way, he still gets to open "gifts" and he'll have fun trying to figure out where the money is. Maybe with the last amount of money have something little sitting with it. Just an idea.

when we were younger my brother wanted cash like that also. so my parents got a little christmas tree from the dollar tree or something and rolled the bills up and tied them on the tree with red yarn. my brother loved it. is there anything little that he needs... socks, underwear, anything like that? you could always do the money tree and a few little things that he needs you can wrap and have him open it. hope that helps.

R. I think it's awesome and I did it with my son when he hit about 13. Now you can get mazes or some kind of puzzle that he can see the money or gift cert in and he has to work to get it our. Could be a lot of fun. They only think they are tooo big for fun they still love it!!!!
Good Luck
S.

My son is 13 and he told us he wanted cash as well. I told him no, I enjoy buying gifts for him so he will need to think about what he would do with the money and put down those ideas. I know that he would like the cash, but I also know he likes that I put love into buying his gifts. He admitted he was just trying to make life easier on me by saying cash, but he came up with a list of stuff he'd like to get for Christmas. I usually do a gift card to game stop or another video store for a rental so he can try a video game before buying it and I know he loves that. Whatever you do enjoy the season!

Mom I love the idea of big boxes and a small gift card or billfold with money in it. I think that it will make it fun for him... why not also have a scavenger hunto for him too!

I think your idea of wrapping 20s in different boxes is hilarious and I'm sure that your son will get a kick out of it. I know that a lot of people disagree with giving cash but, hey, it's a new generation, right? I wouldn't do a visa gift card b/c the fees are high (which you don't realize until you get one). Anyway, I would maybe buy one little thing for him. Something for his computer? Or a pair of new shoes or something, I don't know, just so that he has one "regular" gift. Have fun doing all that wrapping!

This happened last year with my oldest son as well. He just turned 13 right before Christmas. He said he wanted cash as well so he could buy what he wanted. So we took all sorts of money, 5's, 10's and 20's and wrapped them in several boxes, put one in his stocking and put some in envelopes in the tree. He loved every one of them. At this age it is kind of hard to buy things for them. THey are not into toys and they never want clothes because that is not cool! Good luck.

Hi :)
One year I asked for cash for Christmas. My mom took a whole bunch of one dollar bills and taped them together end to end, then rolled them up and put the roll in a gift-wrapped box with a slit on the top and a ribbon taped to the first bill in the roll. The ribbon was fed out the slit and had a tag that said "pull here". It was fun and memorable to see all those bills come out... Happy Holidays! :)

I LOVE your idea about wrapping 20's in different boxes, very fun and creative! Have you considered throwing different amounts in each box...just to change it up a bit? Maybe start with some ones, a few fives, tens, then 20's... How fun!!! Whatever you decide to do, just have a very Merry Christmas.

Does he have a wallet/bank to keep the cash in? My grandparents give us money each year for Christmas (its a pain shopping for 11 kids and kid-in-laws, 19 grandchildren/grandchildren's spouses, and 20 great-grandkids, through they actually buy for the little ones). Anywho, my cousin has to hold onto her 12 and 14 year old's cash because they loose it and drama ensues.

So he has more than 1-2 things to open, maybe give him cash in one box, a visa card in another, and a few gift certificates in others.

Also, if he has a favorite food that isn't perishable, like a brownie mix, maybe wrap that up with a "coupon" for making that food for him (he has to share at least part of it, but he gets first bite and any "disputed" portions go to him).

Hi, R.! I had a lot of fun with this when my kids got too old for me to buy for. I bought silly little things - a refrigerator magnet that was a Santa Claus with the message, "Merry Christmas, (Kids Name)"; anything with the kids names on it, like a bicycle license plate; a plastic "credit card" that said, "Certified Spoiled Rotten"; goofy things that were inexpensive and small but significant. Over the years, I've ended up shopping throughout the year, as I see something appropriate I pick it up. Then, I got the money in singles and fives, and wrapped the presents and a dollar bill or two in paper and ribbon. The kids had a blast opening the presents and didn't feel left out as the younger kids opened things. Now my kids are all married, so I have to do it a little differently, but I have fond memories of those years with the goofy gifts plus cash. Have fun with it!

The most simplest way to give cash ad have something nice to open would be if he needs some clothes. Buy some shirts with pockets and have cash stiking out the pocket. Pants with cash in the back pocket hanging out or a new wallet. They say it brings bad fortune to give a wallet without cash. Or are you slightly creative? My oldest Grandson wanted Cash so I made him a personal ATM machine and filled it with coins first all the way up to singles and higher to the amout of his total gift. I wrote on the paper that I taped the money to that this was his personal Atm and to pull slowly if he wanted to make a withdrawl. As he pulled there was 5 pennies, several nickels, some dimes, and quarters, then I went to singles a $5 and a $10. It got the biggest cheers. He kept it for years playing with it. At the end of the slip it gave his total withdrawl. My Mother did something similar when I was a teen. She tapes one dollar bills around a toilet paper roll and wrapd toilet paper around it so you had to start by pulling toilet paper. Who wants a roll of toilet paper for Christmas. I recall there was a total of $50 so it was pretty fat. Play around with these ideas.
Good luck I know cash seems the easy way out and in some ways cheap but it does go over very well because they can get what they want. Of course everything is picked over and they are slow to bring in new stuff.

call me old fashioned, but i am not down with giving cash to kids - is that really the meaning of christmas? just give me money? to me, it sends the wrong signals. kids these days seem to think people owe them stuff. my 15 year old niece was complaining that her one set of grandparents just gave her stupid old savings bonds. i could hardly believe it. and i think overall it's out of control between cash, gift cards and gift receipts - gifts are supposed to be about a thoughtful thing someone wants to get you, whether it's home made or store bought - not you getting exactly what you want all the time. and appreciating the thought, effort, expense behind it. but like i said, i'm probably old fashioned.

My 13 YO son also wants cash.. He wanted cash last yr, too. I bought him a couple of books, and stuck some $20's in them, then bought him a pink stuffed teddy from the $1.00 store, cut the back seam, and stuffed a $50 in it, sewed it up, and got a GREAT pic. of his face when he opened it. ( then told him to check the stuffing guts )Gave him a T-shirt with a $50 folded to look like a tag taped to the tag part, etc.. I just got creative.. Good luck.. I know it's hard to see one of your children look at everyone else opening presents and him just sitting there.. He wanted money for his 11th Christmas too, and I gave him a couple cards with the money in them.. He looked disappointed, but last year and this year he asked for it again.. so I decided to go with some fun tricks.. He really enjoyed it though..
A.

My son is 13 and has also asked for just cash in the past. I always had Santa bring him little things to open because even though he was getting what he asked for I also knew that deep down he would enjoy a few small surprises. And it wouldn't give the smaller kids any reason to wonder. I am glad that I did because I still enjoy watching them be surprised.
Good Luck!!

Something else that you might want to consider would be making him hunt for the cash. Make it a scavenger hunt. We do this with my oldest and it's alot of fun! They aren't allowed to open their presents until they have collected all of them. This is something we started with easter t o"add to the dimension" of the egg.

Hi R.,

I think that cash is okay because he's at the age when he can pick and choose. One thought would be to give hime half (or some portion of) cash, and then still buy hime something that you want him to have or something small that you know he would appreciate. Opening the gifts is half the fun, so I think that you are right to want him to have that experience, too. I like the idea of wrapping the cash.

I have a 14yr old stepson that said all he wants is cash as well (and has off/on for a few years). We decided to buy two things (shirt/jeans/cologne from his fav store -Hollister) and then the rest cash. That way he still gets cash, but has something fun to open as well. Kids that age always like to have stuff, they just don't always know what they want so they say cash. And what I always do when I give him cash.... put some in a pair of socks and wrap it, put some in a pack of gum and wrap it, in a magazine/book, etc. and anything else I can think of that he needs/uses. That way he gets to open up alot of presents and have a little surprise as well!

When we got to be HS and college age we always got money for Christmas. My mom always got us a couple of small gifts, an ornament for the tree, some socks, a book or two, but most of our gift was cash. There was a stipulation though. We had to be accountable for it, we were to turn in our receipts. That way she knew that her money was being spent responsibly. We had to buy things, no McDonald's or movie tickets. She would take us shopping a couple of times before we were drivers and we shopped for clothes or tapes and records, whatever. She always told us that if she were shopping for us, she would buy us nice things, so that is what she expected us to buy ourselves. Cash may seem like a cold Christmas gift, but it sure beats standing in line the week after Christmas trying to return the gifts you thought they would love and they don't.

I would make sure he has at least 1 gift to open that is a gift. Then I love your idea about wrapping up the money in boxes. -- I saw a great idea for this at a graduation party this summer. They took a box, and put party beads and some dollar store stuff and a huge pile of shredded paper and mixed the dollar bills in the paper and trinkets and wrapped up the box. That way the person getting it, has to work a little for the money inside.

Good Luck.
A.

What about a Visa gift card? Or a couple of gift cards to his favorite stores? What does he want to buy with the cash? Is it something you could get for him? I bet that he would be a little disappointed on Christmas morning if the other kids were opening a gifts and all he got was an envelope with money. I know I would be. If you want to give him cash, I would put it in different boxes so he has something to open. Maybe get him a few small things too. I know a lot of people thing gift cards and cash are tacky, but if it's what they want, what are you suppose to do?

Over the years, we have given cash at Christmas, and we did lots of "goofy" things with the money within the gifts. I remember one year, we gave "one old glove", but $20 was inside. And we put $20 worth of 1 dollar bills in a box that was also filled with packing popcorn. We gave a old CD case, with money inside, but it was under the label, so they began to really have to look for it as the gifts were opened. One box looked completely empty, we hid the money under the bottom flap of the box. It because one of the funniest Christmas we have ever had. And the kids still talk about it.

Why not do a mix of some gifts and cash. My mother-in-law did cash for all of us kids a few years ago, in a very cool way. She got $5's and $10's and put them amidst tons of tissue paper in huge boxes and we had to find all the cash. She had us open the gifts at the same time and it was so much fun. The only thing she learned NOT to do, however, was she put $1's in the boxes for the kids. And for my oldest son's box, she used her playstation 2 box and he unwrapped the box, saw the PS2 and thought THAT was his gift and he got so excited, then Nana had to pop his bubble and tell him that's not what was in the box! She felt SOOOO bad about it. She still feels bad about it, and this was 3 years ago! But it was definitely a fun way to get the money!

You could make it a treasure hunt. My parents used to do this when we were young. There would be an envelope with a note, which was the first clue. Each clue led to another note, which eventually led to the gift. It was fun for everyone. You could divide out the money and give part at different points in the search.

I don't know...the best part about Christmas for me is looking for the perfect gift. Maybe you could get him a couple things and then wrap a couple various-sized boxes with cash or gift cards so he doesn't know which will be gifts and which will be money?

What a mature thing for a 12 y/o to say, very helpful. BUt Iagree, he might be disappointed when the opening actually happens. If you know where he might spend it,you can always get gift cards with something small to be the gift card holder, or go to the Dollar store and attach the money to something smalland cheap, or just funny. Another idea is make it a treasure hunt, put clues or riddles with each $20 so that he has to hunt and find them. We used to do this with Easter baskets to lengthen the fun!! THe kids loved it. That way it's more than just opening gifts. Make it challenging so it lasts longer. The 10 y/o will have fun helping. Good luck and Happy Holidays!

R.,

Here's a couple thoughts for you...

Ask your son what he wants to do with the cash. Is he saving up for something?? I know that being 12, getting cash is awesome, however, it's easy to just friviously spend it and have nothing left.

Also, I know how you feel about not having anything for him to open on Christmas day -- but the idea of stuffing cash in boxes is CUTE and if you decide to give him the cash, that will satisfy your need for him to open things, and his -- to get the cash. It's a win-win :) It may even be a lot of fun for him to open the boxes. I'd make big boxes, little ones, etc... put some 20's in them, then also put 5's and 1's and maybe even a roll of quarters or something - -make it fun! :)

M.

I would put the money in different envelopes and put them throughout the house so he would have to do a scavenger hunt to find them..i think it would make it fun for him to be given hints and try to find it lol and hang one on the tree to give to him right away..you can even wrap the envelopes in fun paper or put them in cards made for money..I dont htink it would bother him if he didnt have presents to open but you can always get a "backup present" just a little something from the whole family(mom,dad,siblings) so he can open something but if money is what he wants then i'm sure he will be fine...good luck

This sounds like a great idea - give some cash - and do some gift cards to places you know he is gonna spend the cash - they are usually easier to keep track of, Then maybe have that one special thing that you know he really wants but doesnt remember he want! :)

R., my oldest was like your son too and he wanted cash for
Christmas, so I did just what you mentioned and then I also
put a sweatshirt and taped some $1.00 bills and a couple of
$5.00's ...hope that helps....

Here's the perspective of the eldest of 5 children (my youngest sister is 16 years younger). I recall always displaying quite the "show" of irritation as my mom insisted their was a santa, and would not let me in on the secrets of Christmas. I also recall every Christmas being very magical, even into my late teens. I would not trade those memories for anything and I'm so greatful my mother did not give in to the notion that I was older than I really was and that she kept the "secrets of Christmas"....well, a secret. We are young for such a short time. Regardless if you have told him about santa, there is something about waking up on Christmas morning with presents to open. Maybe you could combine a few gift with the cash so he still has things to open. Good luck with your decision!

My mom did this for my son and my nephew one year. She put the money in a small box, completely wrapped it in duct tape, put it in a bigger box, wrapped it in nice paper, put it in a bigger box, wrapped it and so on. they had to unwrap about 4 or 5 boxes till they got to the smallest one and then had to work through the duct tape to get to their money. It was fun to watch and they had a blast trying to see who would get to theirs first.
Another year, a box under the tree with a note telling them where to find the next box or envelope and took them on a treasure hunt. It was fun trying to read the clues and trying to figure out where to find the next clue and then to see where the "treasure" was finally hid.
Have fun with it!

Maybe instead of the cash ask him what he will spend it on and then buy him those things for Christmas, as long as he no longer believes in Santa. My son quit believing in 4th grade. He may say he just wants cash but I think he would be very disappointed Christmas morning. Maybe you could still give him some cash wrapped like you said, I think your idea of wrapping it is a great one. Happy Holidays!

I would probably find out what he plans to do with the money and buy whatever it is he is going to buy. Or, if he is going to save it, I would put it in individual gift boxes. That would definately make it more fun to open!

Although keep in mind that if you do this for him, next year, you may be doing it for both of your older boys. Granted, it makes it easier on you, but may make it less fun.

Maybe you could get him a few pieces of clothing to wrap separately, plus wrap the cash? I would do it a bit different though. Decide how much cash you want to give him, then get some in 1s, 5s, 10s, & 20s. Then do like you said, only put different incriments in different boxes. That way it is still a surprise when he opens each one, because he won't know exactly how much is in each box. Know what I mean?

HI R.,

Late response here, but have you thought of small photo frames with cash it also. I did that one Christmas, other ideas is to do a treasure hunt for the cash gifts, put it on the tree in glass ornaments, use it as bows on say another gift that maybe something like socks. All sorts of fun ways to give and be creative. Hope you have fun.

Blessings,

T.

Dear R.,
I know at that age they want cash. Maybe you can give him cash then have a surprise gift later after the cash. L. J

You know your son better than anyone. I personally can't imagine what a 12yr old needs the cash for, but that is something only you know about. My oldest son is also 12, and he is definitely getting harder to buy for. I still don't think I would give him cash even though he is very responsible with money. Another idea, if you decide not to do the cash, is that I take my son with me to shop for the younger two, and let him show me some things he would like to have. My son still believes in Santa too! He is starting to doubt it, but still does. Good Luck and Merry Christmas!

If he is responsible handling money, I think he is old enough for a cash gift. Does he need a new wallet? You could give the cash in a nice wallet, and then wrap up a few inexpensive token gifts so he has some things to open along with the other kids.

If he insists on that, I'd make SURE it was in the form of something he can earn interest on...a savings account, etc. If he wants $, I'd still buy him at least one thing you think he'd like or needs. In addition, if you want to do EVERYONE a favor, include Robert Kyiosaki's CASH FLOW game for kids so that he learns HOW to handle $$!!!

A book every boy I know just loves is the Dangerous Book For Boys. I know boys the ages of your sons who >hate< reading but can't put this book down. It covers a wide variety of topics... everything from descriptions of ancient battles to how to whittle to how to start a fire to astronomy to how to catch a fish. Maybe scatter bills throughout the book between the pages? Or give the cash in a few boxes to open, but I still think it would probably be best to actually have something Christmas morning when his brothers is opening stuff.

When I was younger my parents did a kind of scavanger hunt with me. I got a few small presents that all led to another part of our house with another small present, socks & such.

You could do something like that so the other kids get "presents" & he gets his cash but he also feels that he got something "special" from you.